How To Break Infinity
by Kat Aclysm
Summary: Everyone's favorite space grandpa steals stuff and discovers a thing.


**How To Break Infinity**

Written by Kat_Aclysm  
 **Rated:** \- T for language + suggestive themes.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own this IP, this is fanfiction.

 **NOTE:** Oneshot. Also snippet from something larger I've been working on to be released after Rick and Morty Season 3 has come out. Rick's wife's name is a placeholder and will be changed once there is a canonical name.

* * *

The scientist paced back and forth across the concrete floor of his workshop, a half finished bottle of whiskey in his left hand that would be completely done with before the night was over. He had buried himself in the basement of the shitty three bedroom house he lived in, his eyes glued to the chalkboard on the far wall of the room. This would be his third consecutive night awake, though he was neither an insomniac or tired. His brain was a maddening jumble of thoughts and he simply wouldn't be able to sleep again until he'd solved the puzzle that he was trying to get his head around.

"Richard!" The angry voice bellowed down the entryway to the basement, "How much longer are you going to be awake? You can't stay up forever!"

Rick gritted his teeth as he was knocked out of his thoughts, his anger boiling over. "Shut up, Ellie!" He yelled back at her with as much gusto as she had given him. "Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate!? I'm doing important science stuff here, I-I'm on the verge of a breakthrough!"

"Fine! Sleep on the couch again for all I care!"

"Maybe I LIKE it there!" Rick roared back at her. "Doesn't matter if it's the bed or the couch, I certainly wasn't going to get any action from you tonight anyway!"

He heard the sound of the door slamming above and he resumed pacing, furious - Ellie had never understood his true scientific genius and Rick actually suspected she was beginning to resent him for it. Ever since the vile red-headed temptress had suckered him into marrying her, she had been trying to tie him down and stifle his creativity. The domestic life wasn't doing him any favors either, he had a daughter now and although he knew he was supposed to love her unconditionally, all he felt was a sense of loathing for the little girl - she was nothing more than a drooling sack of turds who tried to rob him of what little free time he had. He wished she had never been born.

He felt like he was being suffocated by it all. Only the spaceship he had built for himself and his secret life away from home offered him any freedom. Being in the vacuum of space was the only real time he got any peace and quiet to think any more, and the thrill of running guns for the resistance movement allowed him the only opportunity to truly feel like he was alive again.

As his eyes locked onto the portal generator machine he had stolen from his last run-in with the Galactic Federation customs department, he was briefly sidetracked with recalling the memory of how he had even managed to get away with it. It had been too big to fit up his butt, so he had simply grabbed it and ran off with it while the bureaucrats had been distracted – the adrenaline rush of stealing had been a fun adventure all in itself and he made a mental note to do it again soon, even if he never needed another one.

Although it had been dangerous, it was for science. Rick knew that the woman he married would never truly understand the significance of that, either – she had never appreciated his experiments and had called him an idiot for even theorizing about the idea of multiple universes in the first place.

Rick spat on the ground next to him and snarled - she would never understand him and he utterly despised her for it.

As the scientist stared back at the equation on the chalkboard, he could actually feel himself coming undone at how frustrating all of it was – why wasn't it working? He'd done all the calculations, he'd compiled and recompiled them too many times to count.

" _Why isn't it working?"_

In three steps, Rick had reached the giant metallic ring device and gave it a hefty kick for good measure – it didn't do anything except make his toes hurt and dissipate his anger a little. He crouched down in front of it and went back to work, his brows knitted in heavy concentration as he spent the next hour tweaking with the guts of the device, poking at circuitry and rewiring parts of the console entirely.

He moved back to his feet and stepped away, glaring at his equations once more – nope. They were all perfect, and nothing would convince him otherwise. Might as well test his latest modifications, at least then the night wouldn't truly be wasted.

Rick plugged the device into the mains power and stood back to watch the result – he'd seen it too many times and it was becoming predictable. First the portal would power up and then the whirling vortex of electric blue light would swirl into life. But no matter what he did, it would never change; it was always blue.

However, what the scientist didn't know this time was that he'd actually done it right.

The giant metallic ring began to crackle as the new modifications powered up – first the brilliant hues of blue swirled into existence and then they began to twist and warp, threatening to consume themselves entirely.

Rick stumbled backwards in retreat, tripping over his own feet. He'd lost his last batch of portal generators this way and knew was coming when they behaved like this – they had exploded.

They always exploded.

Without warning, the violent blue swirling vortex sucked inwards on itself and the entire device sparked in protest. After another moment, the portal being generated wavered in and out of existence and the device stabilized, the light illuminating the workshop in radiant neon green as it went silent again.

Rick stared ahead, his eyes widening in disbelief. It took him another moment to realize that it had actually worked.

He threw his head back and roared with maddening laughter, positively beside himself with elation - he'd finally cracked it. Months of arduous self torture and sleepless nights had finally been rewarded with exactly what he had theorized in the first place – interdimensional portal travel was actually possible, and now the proof was right there in front of him on the floor of the garage.

"FUCK YEAAAAHH, BABY!" Rick thrust both hands in the air and bellowed an almighty victory cheer with every fiber of his being. Little did he know it at the time, but this would be one of the most monumental achievements he would make in his entire lifetime. Many other things would come of it, but it would be years before he would discover its significance in regards to the rest of the universe.

Little else mattered to him any more - this was beyond the universe. He had stumbled upon infinity itself, and now it was his. His to abuse, his to control, his to fuck with however he wanted.

Rick settled his arms back at his sides again, another wave of joyful laughter washing over him. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so accomplished and happy. He was finally knocked out of his reverie as he watched the portal spiral inward as it began to consume itself.

"NO!" He yelled at it, "Goddamn it, not now!"

He was powerless to do anything as the machine began to rip itself apart, chunks of twisted metal and debris being swallowed up by the swirling green vortex. As the remains of the machine destabilized, the portal collapsed in on itself and the base of the device exploded, not being able to deal with the power overload.

Rick was thrown backwards by the blast. He hit the wall with a hard thud and collapsed on the ground in a heap, the bottle of whiskey in his hand shattered in the impact.

Ellie had obviously heard the sound below, for she was already at the door to the basement and bounding down the stairs, two at a time. "Oh my god, Richard!" She called out to him, but she couldn't see much through the thick plume of grey-green smoke that enveloped the room. "Are you all right?"

Rick was only half-conscious as he looked up at her from his place on the ground. His hair and clothes were smoldering, and he had several burns all over his body. He was sure that the next several hours would probably be spent at the emergency ward, but he didn't care.

"Nn... n-never better..." His reply was a soft chuckle before he passed out.

He'd done it - the multiverse, infinity itself was his to command.

Now all he had to do was make it portable.


End file.
